


ten ways to daniel's heart (and ten things to avoid)

by ongnielsbub (kingtatae)



Category: Produce 101 (TV), Wanna One (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, M/M, daniel is oblivious, jaehwan is lowkey an evil genius disguised as an Absolute Idiot, minhyun is Tired, ong is very super mega gay, pink-haired daniel bc i'm weak, this is also entirely self-indulgent let me LIVE, this is rlly dumb
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-20
Updated: 2018-02-04
Packaged: 2019-01-20 02:30:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,431
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12423228
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kingtatae/pseuds/ongnielsbub
Summary: “I want togivehim things,” Seongwoo says sadly, “like happiness and warm hugs and blow jobs.”“That’s not gross at all,” Jaehwan mutters.~Kang Daniel is probably the most attractive boy Seongwoo has ever met. Kang Daniel is also the mostobliviousboy he has ever met, but it’s not like that’ll put a damper on any of Seongwoo’s plans to woo the guy. He is determined, after all.





	1. ground zero

**Author's Note:**

> Vietsub by JBholic: [HERE](https://www.wattpad.com/511566120-trans-m%C6%B0%E1%BB%9Di-c%C3%A1ch-%C4%91%E1%BB%83-ti%E1%BA%BFp-c%E1%BA%ADn-tr%C3%A1i-tim-daniel-v%C3%A0)

Seongwoo meets Daniel by chance on some random decrepit Tuesday.

Well, it’s not really by chance, and he’s not quite sure whether or not it’s a Tuesday. It might just be Thursday, or perhaps even Saturday. Seongwoo is maybe a little stuck in a tree, and Daniel happens to pass by said tree. This is not some complex metaphor or anything—Seongwoo is really stuck in a tree, and he’s not quite sure where his pants are. He’s probably a little drunk. Drunk Seongwoo is not very inclined to getting out of a tree on his own.

It’s at that moment he sees a bright splash of pink in the darkness. It’s hair, he realizes, half a beat too late, and said hair is atop quite a tall head. Ah! That’ll do, he thinks, rather pleased.

“Dude,” he says, and it comes out warbled, like he’s talking through a mouthful of cotton. This calls for drastic measures, Seongwoo reasons, and reaches down for his shoe. “Damn, that’s rank,” he mumbles, when he finally frees his foot. He smiles goofily down at his socked foot, Pepe’s reassuring face staring back up at him. Somehow, he achieves all of this without falling out of the tree and potentially breaking his Very Nice Face. This is cause for celebration, he decides, once he gets out of this damn overgrown shrub.

He waits until pink-haired boy is near enough before he lobs the shoe at the him. It completely misses the mark, one half of his pair of expensive Timberlands ending up catapulting into the pond a few meters behind the boy. Seongwoo sighs.

Luckily, it works as a distraction tactic. The guy stops and spins around, brows scrunched with confusion.

“Up here,” Seongwoo manages, and pink-haired boy tilts his head up, mouth dropping open in shock. Seongwoo can’t see the boy’s face very well. It’s dark, and all he can really take in is the cotton candy fluff of that hair. It’s distracting, and stupid, and all Seongwoo really wants to do is go home and sleep and maybe sniff the boy’s head just to see if it actually smells like cotton candy—just for the novelty of it all.

“What the fuck,” says the boy, and Seongwoo nods sagely.

“Big mood,” he says sympathetically. “But also, I’m kind of stuck up here. You mind getting me down?”

“Where are your pants, man?” Pink-haired boy asks, and makes his way forward, to the base of the tree. He looks slightly less alarmed, which is good, because that probably means he is more inclined to help Seongwoo rather than just running away.

“Some questions should remain unanswered,” Seongwoo tries, like he knows the answer. (He doesn’t). “So, um. How should we do this?”

The boy pauses. “Uh… you could just… jump down?”

“Cool idea, but I’m not super into the thought of breaking both my legs, thanks.” Seongwoo sniffs, and he thinks he sees the boy crack a smile.

“I could catch you?” It sounds like a question.

“You don’t sound very sure, big guy,” Seongwoo says. “I’m not that light.”

“Judging from those twigs-for-legs, I’d say you’re light enough.”

“Excuse me? Did you just call my legs… twigs? I’ll have you know that I have very _nice_ legs, you know. You _wish_ you had my legs.”

The boy laughs a little. “Alright, alright. How about this—you get as low as you can, and we’ll see if it’s low enough for me to be able to lift you off.”

Doubtfully, Seongwoo eyes the tree, and the boy standing beneath it. He’s not feeling very confident. Hands trembling, he manages to slide down about half a foot, just high enough so that his calves reach that head full of pink.

“Um,” the boy says, and moves forward a bit more. “I can try and catch you now or— _OOMPH_.” His words are muffled by Seongwoo, who happens to slip and fall, and in his panic, Seongwoo grabs and manages to land on the guy. Unfortunately, it’s more of a face-to-crotch sort of deal, and Seongwoo’s really glad that he wore his sexy dark blue boxers today.

Surprisingly, the boy holds his ground, and adjusts quickly enough to have Seongwoo’s legs around his waist instead. He’s unfazed, eyes steady and earnest as he checks Seongwoo over for injuries. Seongwoo doesn’t even know _how_ the lightning fast adjustment even happened—the guy’s probably a fucking magician or something. His arms are so strong, Seongwoo silently appraises, resisting the urge to wriggle in the hold, enjoying the hands gripping the backs of his thighs a little too much.

“Hi,” Seongwoo grins, when he’s face-to-face with pink-haired boy, his legs still wrapped firmly around the guy’s hips. “Nice to meet you, I’m Ong Seongwoo. Not _Hong_ Seongwoo. Ong Seongwoo. Not Gong Seongwoo, _Ong_ Seongwoo. Not—”

“Ong Seongwoo, gotcha.” The pink-haired boy looks vaguely amused. He has a nice smile, and pretty, pretty eyes. “I’m Daniel.”

“Daniel?” Seongwoo blinks, still clinging onto him. “That’s such a white-guy name l-m-a-o.”

Daniel just smiles, looking a little confused, before he gently taps Seongwoo’s thigh. “I, uh. I guess. Um, do you mind… getting off?”

Brightly, Seongwoo unfurls his legs from around Daniel’s hips and stumbles to the ground. “Thanks, dude!” He chirps. “I’m gonna go fish for my other shoe in the lake.”

“You’re so drunk,” Daniel says. He’s still smiling. Seongwoo really, really likes his smile.  

Coyly, Seongwoo runs a finger up Daniel’s arm. The pink-haired boy doesn’t seem to notice. Seongwoo sighs internally. Straight guys are always so oblivious, he laments. Unfortunate. "You wanna help?"

“Fish for your other shoe?” Daniel raises an eyebrow. Seongwoo feels like dying a little. God, he wants to lick that eyebrow. Is that weird? He’s a little drunk.  

“Yup!”

After a moment’s contemplation, Daniel shrugs. “Why not?”

The two of them spend half an hour on the edges of the pond with very long sticks trying to reel in Seongwoo’s boot, which is caught in between a rock and something suspiciously slimy.

“Oh, what the hell,” Daniel says, and rolls his sweatpants up to his knees, and wades right into the filthy waters to grab Seongwoo’s shoe.

Wide-eyed, Seongwoo gapes at the guy as he quite literally sinks knee-deep into complete sludge, slowly waddling towards the area where Seongwoo’s boot is pathetically sinking into mud. The hems of his sweats are going to be completely filthy, Seongwoo thinks. Daniel’s back is broad and firm and Seongwoo wants to sink his teeth into the strong flesh of his shoulders—and wow, yeah, is it getting hot in here or what?

Even Daniel’s back view is sexy, and if Seongwoo were a little bit more drunk, he might’ve dove into the water to pull Daniel to him and kiss him.

Daniel returns, bright-eyed and beaming, with Seongwoo’s soggy, disgusting boot, and hands it to him with the sunniest smile Seongwoo’s ever seen.

Seongwoo just might be a little bit in love.  

~

“Let me get this straight,” Minhyun says, pinching the bridge of his nose with a thumb and forefinger, sounding so ineffably tired. “You’re ‘in love’,” he makes quotations with his fingers, “with some random dude who got you down from a tree when you were drunk and waded into a gross-ass pond to save your boot—which is totally ruined now, by the way—and now you want to _date_ him? After interacting with him for less than an hour?”

Seongwoo sighs sadly into his lukewarm coffee. It tastes gritty and Bad—which is pretty reminiscent of most of his hangovers. “Yeah, that’s pretty much it.”

“I can’t believe you ruined _Timbs_ ,” Minhyun mourns. “Just thinking about it makes my wallet hurt.”

“Pink hair, called Daniel. Doesn’t sound too difficult to find him,” Daehwi interjects, and flips his fringe out of his eyes. His single silver earring jingles and catches the light—Seongwoo’s beacon of _hope,_ bless the boy. “We’ll hunt him down.”

“He was strong,” Seongwoo supplies helpfully. “Totally like he could like. Fuck me into a wall or something.”

Minhyun wrinkles his nose. “That’s filthy.”

“Strong, got it,” Daehwi says, nodding sagely, and jots something down in a notebook that seems to have appeared out of nowhere. “I’ll ask around the gym rats and dance majors. Maybe see if there are some prop people in theatre who know the guy.”

“Why him?” Minhyun asks, resigned like he knows there’s no changing Seongwoo’s mind. (There isn’t).

Seongwoo shrugs. “I don’t know, why do you hate whipped cream?” Under his breath, he adds, “ _bitch_ , _”_ and Minhyun smacks him over the head.

After a good half hour of random discussion and gossip, and two more slaps from Minhyun, Seongwoo is left alone again in his dorm room. He’s bored, and also a little desperate, and that doesn’t particularly make for a _reasonable_ Ong Seongwoo.

Seongwoo is admittedly many things (hot and sexy and a total brain-man being just a few items to list, _thankyouverymuch_ ), but a _Good Decision Maker_ is probably not one of those things. This is why he decides to ask Jaehwan for advice.

Jaehwan has been dubbed as the worst decision maker of the group—but that’s wrong. Jaehwan is just very clearly an _evil genius_. But that’s alright. Seongwoo probably needs a little bit of evil mastermind, now.

“Jaehwannie,” he wheedles, into the phone. “I need help.”

“Is this a cry for help?” Jaehwan says, loud and very very smug. Seongwoo has no time for regret or fear. “What does my young Padawan need from this illustrious king?”

It takes all of Seongwoo’s energy to refrain from telling Jaehwan to _shut the fuck up, headass,_ and he chokes back the words with a grimace. “How do you, say, get a guy to, like… wanna do the dating thing? With you. I mean, with me. Yeah. How to get a guy to date me.”

Jaehwan starts to laugh, all high-pitched and screechy and perfectly _evil_ , and Seongwoo knows he’s come to the right man. “Oh, this is good—take a seat, Young Padawan, and get out a paper and pen. It’s time for the Magnificent Jaehwan to teach you a thing or two about _romance_.”

Seongwoo comes out of the conversation with a blown mind and a whole list of ways to impress Kang Daniel.

This is good, he thinks, as he stares down at the scrawled, ugly ink of his handwriting, haphazard and excited. _Really good._


	2. level one

Daehwi pulls through—Daehwi _always_ pulls through—which is why Seongwoo finds himself with Kang Daniel’s entire school schedule on a sunny Monday afternoon. It’s probably a little stalker-ish, but Seongwoo resolves not to follow the boy. Kind of.

He finds out that Daniel is a dancer—which explains his long, graceful limbs and his strong arms, thick thighs. This is also blatantly unfair, because that means that that brat Jihoonie _has_ been holding out on him.

“I invited you to the showcase last month, hyung,” says Jihoon, when Seongwoo sees him in the cafeteria to accuse him of deliberately hiding Daniel’s existence away from him. “But you skipped out on it, remember?” The younger boy snorts.

“Oh, whatever,” Seongwoo sulks, and Jihoon just laughs and shoves a big piece of his muffin into Seongwoo’s mouth.

“Don’t be a baby,” Jihoon teases, and Seongwoo slings an arm around the boy’s shoulders. He squints into the distance.

He says: “Is that Guanlin?”

It is indeed. The boy is all decked out today, in tight leather pants and a matching choker. His hair is swept across his brow, glossy and smooth. Seongwoo’s pretty sure he can see purple glitter around his eyes. Guanlin, who had previously been lounging around rather carelessly, looks up when he feels the weight of their stare. All the life drains out of his eyes. He seems resigned, as he leans back even further and waits for the two of them to make their way to him.

“My my my, what do we have here,” Seongwoo sings, and before he can even begin to make another snide comment, Guanlin holds his hand out, expression flat, mouth stretched into a thin, unimpressed line.

“Wipe that shit-eating grin off your face, hyung,” he says tiredly, and blinks. The light reflects off of the glitter dusted across his eyelids. His cheekbones glow silver. “Long story short, I offered to help out with a few film students. They didn’t really warn me about what the role would entail.”

Jihoon looks a little startled. “Oh.” He says, and his cheeks go a little pink when Guanlin turns unreadable eyes to him. “It’s uh, it’s a cool look, dude.”

“Thanks, _dude,_ ” Guanlin replies drily, like he thinks Jihoon is being sarcastic. “Anyways, I’m free now. Where’re you guys headed?”

Jihoon glances at Seongwoo, whose arm is still around his shoulder. “Well, I dunno about Seongwoo hyung, but I was headed to dance practice.”

“Same,” Seongwoo adds airily, and the two boys both turn to stare at him, brows arched. “What? You-know-who’s going to be there!” He says with wide eyes.

Guanlin asks, “Who?” and Jihoon answers wryly, “ _Kang Daniel_ ,” like he’s suffering.

“Oh,” Guanlin blinks again. Glitter sprinkles down onto his cheeks in flashes of purple and silver, and Jihoon looks a little star struck. “I know him! Oh, Daniel-hyung is really cool. He helped me out a lot when I first got to campus, when I got lost.” He smiles, then. “I can see why you like him, hyung.” He puts his fists together and says, “ _hwaiting!_ ”

“You guys’ll hype me up, right?” Seongwoo wheedles. “I mean, not that I’m not already a total catch, but really putting me out there won’t hurt, y’know?”

“What are we, trying to _sell_ you?” Jihoon snorts. “God, you’re lame.”

“Daniel is just really cute, okay,” Seongwoo pouts. He thinks back to the pink hair, his smile and the way his two front teeth jut out. Then thinks to the way his shoulders filled out that hoodie, and the strong line of his back as he waded into the sludge. _Fuck, he’s gorgeous_ , Seongwoo thinks. Maybe he’s being really shallow. But it’s not like Seongwoo wants to _marry_ the guy because he’s a little (a lot) hot. He just wants to… get to know him.

“So, what’s your big plan?” Guanlin asks curiously, as they begin to walk towards the dance studios. They cut across the courtyard, just because they can, and also because the actual walkways have one or two stoners who may or may not be passed out cold.

“I was talking to Jaehwan,” the two younger boys groan simultaneously and Seongwoo shoots them an injured look. “What? He really had some good advice! Anyways, he helped me come up with a few things that’ll help me get to know Daniel better, and maybe make him want to, like, punch me in the mouth. With his lips. Make him want to kiss me.”

Jihoon and Guanlin exchange looks, and they look a lot more concerned than Seongwoo thinks they have any right to be. “Advice like…?” Jihoon prompts.

“Oh, don’t give me that look,” Seongwoo rolls his eyes. “It’s not like Jaehwan told me to drop on my knees the first minute I saw him again. He just said, to start off, something like, uh, maybe trip and fall and scatter my books in front of Daniel so he could help me pick them up!” Seongwoo smiles at them, brightly. “Cute things like that!”

Lifting an eyebrow, Guanlin says, “That’s actually not that bad. A little anime, but still cute. I’d call it passable advice.”

“Surprisingly, I agree,” Jihoon snickers, nodding his head slowly. “It’s really not terrible.”

Seongwoo, for some reason, feels inexplicably smug. Which is stupid, because this is sort of just like validating Jaehwan’s _existence,_ and that isn’t really a thing that needs to happen, especially with the guy’s ego. But then again, Seongwoo’s the idiot who decided to listen to him—so.

“Oh, hey,” Guanlin says, and squints. “Isn’t that Daniel-hyung?”

In the distance, standing by a row of lockers, is Daniel, looking so good it’s almost laughable. His bubblegum hair is swept away from his forehead, and he’s staring down at his phone, brow furrowed in concentration. Seongwoo just might swoon—is Daniel _pouting_?

“Hey,” says Jihoon, tugging on Guanlin’s sleeve, so he can whisper into the taller boy’s ear. Seongwoo is too distracted to particularly care about what the two troublemakers are plotting, and he just sighs and stares at Daniel.

Smiling a little slyly, Jihoon take a hold of Seongwoo’s arm. “Hey, hyung,” says Jihoon. “Didn’t you want to come to dance practice with me?”

“Hmm?” Seongwoo shakes his head, trying to clear his head of all the fuzz. “R-Right.”

Jihoon pulls him along, and where Guanlin went, Seongwoo isn’t quite sure.

“Hey, Daniel hyung!” Jihoon yells, and just as Daniel spins around to look at them with wide eyes, Jihoon is shoving Seongwoo forward with all his strength. He sends Seongwoo flying towards Daniel’s direction—except it isn’t Daniel who stops his fall, it’s a _locker_ , swinging open at full speed, smacking straight into Seongwoo’s poor, poor nose.

“ _Shit_ ,” Seongwoo howls, stumbling backwards, and clutching at his nose. Hot, searing pain emanates from his nose, which he’s pretty sure might be broken, and he can’t help the tears that spring to his eyes from the pain. “Ow, what the _fuck_ ,” he yells, at Jihoon, who doesn’t look particularly apologetic. The younger boy bounds towards the locker, and the locker door swings shut, and it’s Guanlin standing behind it, looking a little sorry.

“Oh _no_ ,” Jihoon says, very loudly. His voice is flat and he’s so awful at acting that Seongwoo might laugh if it weren’t for the fact that it feels like he just took a boulder to the face. “Whatever shall I do? If I don’t go now, I’ll be late to dance practice!” He smirks, and folds his arms across his chest. “Daniel-hyung!” He says, even louder, with purpose. “Can _you_ help Seongwoo-hyung to the campus clinic?”

Seongwoo’s eyes widen. What the fuck. This was Jihoon’s plan? To practically break his face, and then get the poor, innocent bystander to drag him to the nurse? This is ridiculous! Seongwoo’s trying to _impress_ Kang Daniel, not scare him off with his nose which is now the size of a small _mountain_. Seongwoo sniffles, and then cries out at the sharp pain lacing through the entirety of his face. Even his eyes throb.

He just barely lifts his hands up fast enough to catch the brunt of the hot, slick blood that starts to drip down in thin rivulets. He almost sniffs, but thinks the better of it at the last second. Seongwoo glowers balefully at Jihoon and Guanlin.

Looking concerned, Daniel hurries over to his side. “Are you alright?” He asks, in a soft, gentle voice, that has Seongwoo tearing up a little more. Daniel glances up at Jihoon.

“It was an accident,” says Guanlin, almost sincerely. “I didn’t see him coming.”

That _bitch_ , Seongwoo thinks. Unlike Jihoon, Guanlin is a good fucking actor, and Seongwoo just might kill the pair of them when his nose stops feeling like it’s been bashed back into his skull.

Daniel turns back to Seongwoo, and reaches up to push Seongwoo’s hands away from his face. When he sees the damage, he winces, and Seongwoo wants to _cry_. “Your nose might be broken,” Daniel says. “Hopefully, you aren’t concussed. I’ll take you to the clinic, okay? Can you stand?”

“Well, we’re leaving him in your capable hands, Daniel-hyung!” Jihoon chirps, clinging to Guanlin’s arm. “If Seongwoo-hyung dies, I won’t forgive you! Also, he’s older than you, so he’s your hyung!” Smiling brightly, Jihoon prances away, dragging Guanlin along with him.

“Seongwoo, right?” Daniel says, affably, as he helps Seongwoo to his feet. He hooks a sturdy arm around Seongwoo’s waist, and Seongwoo definitely feels woozy enough to let Daniel carry most of his weight.

“Yeah,” Seongwoo mumbles, trying his best to staunch the blood flow. He’s mostly unsuccessful. “Ong Seongwoo. Hyung is okay.” He doesn’t even have time to give Daniel the whole spiel about his name.

“I’m Kang Daniel,” Daniel says, brightly, holding Seongwoo steady as he leads him through the halls. Seongwoo is vaguely dizzy, and he can feel people staring at him as they pass by, but Daniel’s broad shoulders shield him from the curious glances. “Here,” Daniel says, suddenly, hastily, like he’s just remembered something. He’s holding a handful of crumpled tissues up at Seongwoo. His cheeks are a bit pink. “Here, uh, tissues. For your nose.”

Seongwoo almost smiles at how embarrassed Daniel looks. “Thanks,” he says, all stuffy and nasal, and holds the tissues to his face. “Jihoon and Guanlin are idiots,” he says to Daniel, a little crossly. Then: “Thank… thank you, though. For taking me to the nurse.”

Daniel eyes him, brows furrowed, like he’s really concerned. “Oh, it’s really no problem at all! I mean, I couldn’t have just _left_ you there—”

“You could have,” Seongwoo points out gently, and tries for a smile. It probably looks more like a grimace, but it prompts Daniel to smile back at him, all bright and beaming, eyes crinkling at the corner and front teeth poking out. Seongwoo’s heart stutters and kicks in his chest. He’s almost dazed, for a moment.

The walk doesn’t take long, and Seongwoo is especially pleased with the way Daniel leads him along, a gentle hand on his waist. Honestly, the throbbing in his nose definitely distracts Seongwoo a bit from being so close to Daniel—which actually might be a good thing, seeing as if it were any other situation, Seongwoo would be flustered as hell. And flustered Seongwoo is never a good thing—he tends to say things he doesn’t mean. (Seongwoo thinks about the time he’d been accused of being a lazy student and had blurted out ‘eat my ass’. The professor had been so shaken, Seongwoo had gotten off scot-free, with nothing more than a terrified look from the wide-eyed man. Seongwoo soul still shrivels up whenever he remembers that day.)

“Oh,” says Daniel. “Here’s the clinic.”

The clinic is not so much a clinic, rather than a little house, near one of the shitty freshman dorms. There is a crooked sign stuck to the door that reads ‘ _Campus Clinic_ ’, in comic sans with little hearts dotted on the i’s.

“Really,” deadpans Seongwoo, who, despite all the sarcasm, cannot really afford to be picky with where his face gets fixed.

They step inside, and a rather frazzled looking young man hurries out, with glasses that sit skewed, crooked across his nose. “Oh!” The man says. “Oh, hello.” His eyes go wide when he sees Seongwoo. “Wow,” he says, and looks explicitly sympathetic. “Someone is not having a good day.”

“Not the best day, no,” says Seongwoo. “That someone is _me_ , I’m assuming.”

“Yes, yes, of course it’s you,” the man says. “Anyhow, my name is Jisung—I’m the school nurse! Come, come, sit, I’ll grab an icepack, and we’ll see if your nose is alright.”

As it turns out, Seongwoo’s nose is nothing more than very bruised, and Jisung says, with a vague frown, that he probably has a slight concussion. “Just _very_ slight!” Jisung hurriedly assures him, when he sees Seongwoo’s eyes go round with panic. “Honestly, you might not even have one—but to be sure, I want you to take the day off for the rest of today! If you give me your schedule, I can excuse you from your classes.”

“Oh, no, it’s okay, I don’t have any afternoon classes,” Seongwoo says, slowly. “I’ll just go back to my dorm to take a nap or something.”

“That’s good,” Jisung smiles. “Will there be anyone there with you?”

“No,” Seongwoo says. “My roommate’s out for the week on some trip.” (Thank fucking god, because if Seongwoo had to deal with Jaehwan with a _concussion_ , he might as well just stab a fork through his own foot.)

“I’d feel much better if you had someone with you, just to be safe,” Jisung says thoughtfully, and his wandering gaze lands on Daniel. “Oh! Daniel! Could you take care of Seongwoo for the afternoon?”

For _fuck’s_ sake.

Seongwoo wants to sink into the ground out of embarrassment. He’d wanted to _impress_ Daniel, not impose his newly injured self upon the poor guy. Instead of looking annoyed, like most sane people would, Daniel nods.

“Of course,” he says, and it sounds completely sincere. “If you’d be okay with that, Seongwoo-hyung,” he adds hastily, almost shy, looking up from beneath his pink fringe. Seongwoo practically melts into his sneakers.

“As long as I’m not keeping you from anything,” he manages, without squeaking, or swooning. “But really, you don’t have to.”

Jisung snorts. “Not that this isn’t cute and all, but yeah, Daniel, I’m gonna say you have to. Don’t want Seongwoo here passing out in the bathtub or anything gory like that. Just make sure he gets home safe, and if he plans on doing something risky like showering, stick around and make sure he doesn’t slip and hit his head.”

Seongwoo raises his eyebrows. “What, like watch me shower?” He snickers. “Not that I’m not into the whole voyeurism thing…” From the corner of his eye, he sees Daniel go very, very pink. _Cutie_ , he wants to coo, but just barely manages to restrain himself.

“If you have a headache, feel free to pop a Tylenol—but if it’s persistent, come on by, and I’ll check you over,” Jisung tells Seongwoo. “Although I’m not too worried. Better safe than sorry, though. Just keep an icepack to the nose, for now.” The older man rummages through a drawer, before spinning around and handing Seongwoo and Daniel a lollipop each. Seongwoo’s is pineapple flavored. “Have a nice day!” He chirps.

The walk back to Seongwoo’s dorm is somewhat awkward, made in complete silence. Daniel is a little bit taller than Seongwoo, and it might just be his imagination, but Seongwoo can feel the warmth emanating from Daniel, pressed up against his side. God, he’s already whipped, and it’s been like, a _day._

“We’re here,” Seongwoo says, when they’re standing outside his dorm.

“Oh,” Daniel says. “This is my building. I’m on the third floor. What a coincidence, huh.”

Well. “Might as well just _eat my ass_ ,” Seongwoo mutters, furiously. Why on _earth_ had he never bumped into Daniel before?

“What?”

“Nothing!” Seongwoo assures him, and pushes the door open. “Sorry it’s a bit of a mess. My roommate and I aren’t big on organization. He’s gone, too, so there’s no way I’m cleaning up his side of the room.” Seongwoo doesn’t even bother attempting to hide anything of note on Jaehwan’s side of the room. “Yeah, my roommate’s a bit of a collector,” he adds, airily.

“Is that a… rainbow dildo?” Daniel whispers, in awe, staring at Jaehwan’s shelf of questionable sex toys. It’s not like any of them have been put to use, Seongwoo had been assured—they’re _collectibles._ In the two years Seongwoo has been living with Jaehwan, the guy had gone through a multitude of phases. First it had been stamps—then, bondage ropes, and then sunglasses, and now, dildos. It’s all in good fun.

“Yeah—he’s even got a pretty glass one! Look, there’s flowers inside,” Seongwoo takes the aforementioned dildo and holds it out to Daniel, brandishing it like a sword. Daniel doesn’t even flinch—Seongwoo silently gives him props for that. “Doesn’t seem like there would be, but there is such a thing as a collectible dildo. They’re good fun, really.”

Seongwoo settles down on his bed. “Sit down wherever you’d like. Or you can leave,” at this, Seongwoo glances up at the pink-haired boy from beneath his lashes. Of course, this is a test—he doesn’t want Daniel to leave.

“Sorry to break it to you, hyung, but I’m not leaving,” Daniel says, with a lopsided grin. “I agreed to take care of you, didn’t I?”

_Why yes_ , Seongwoo thinks, with a pleased sort of smile, _yes you did._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this probably seems like an underwhelming amount given how long i left this here so i'm sorry!! but i literally just started and finished this chap bc i just finished exams!! the next chapters won't take as long to come out, i promise~
> 
> come yell at me on twitter or curiouscat @ongnielsbub i promise i dont bite!!


	3. level two: part one

“I can’t believe you dickheads broke my _nose_ ,” Seongwoo accuses furiously, when he marches into the cafeteria the next morning.

“Oh, don’t be dramatic or anything—Daniel-hyung already said that it was only a little bruised,” Jihoon says, like he’s not the _actual spawn of Satan_. He smirks and tilts back in his chair, and takes a long, infuriatingly loud sip from his juice box.

“I was almost _concussed_!” Seongwoo shrieks, and Jihoon waves a hand dismissively.

“Tomato, tom-ah-to, there’s no need for hysterics.”

Seongwoo can only squawk in disbelief.

Then he hears: “Seongwoo-hyung, are you feeling okay?”

Seongwoo almost chokes. He whips around to find himself face-to-face with the man in question himself, looking all handsome and delectable in a loose sweater tucked into what may possibly be the tightest pair of black jeans in existence, and cute wire-rimmed round glasses. Seongwoo almost whimpers.

“Y-Yeah, I’m fine!” He squeaks. “It was just a little bruise!”

Jihoon says, “Are you serious,” and Seongwoo slaps him in the chest without turning around to look at him. _Behave_ , the slap says. _Fuck you_ , is Jihoon’s answering glower.  

Daniel’s watching them with a funny expression, like he doesn’t quite know what to make of Seongwoo. “Oh,” he says. “Well I’m glad you’re feeling better.”

The thing is, while Daniel had promised to take care of Seongwoo last night, Seongwoo isn’t actually sure what happened. He had wanted to stay up and maybe flirt a little, but the moment Daniel tucked him into bed, he’d been out cold. It was embarrassing, to say the least.

When he had woken up, groggy and humiliated, he’d found a note on his desk and a bag full of snacks from the convenience store in addition to a pack of Tylenol and some energy drinks. The note read,

_sorry I have to leave, hyung~ I have a morning class :-( i hope u feel better soon! i got u some snacks but i didn’t know what u would like so i just got u a little of everything! see u around hyung_

  * _d._



It was cute, to say the least, except Daniel had also gotten Seongwoo a popsicle and by the time he’d gotten to it, the packet was all wobbly and it had been more like a packet of juice with a wooden stick in it. Still, the sentiment was endlessly endearing, and Seongwoo found himself even more smitten.

Which is unfortunate, because as of now, Seongwoo’s nowhere near cute enough to be impressing Daniel or whatever—what with the mottled purple bruise that had really made a home across the center of his face. (When he’d walked into the first class of the day his professor had quietly asked him if he’d gotten a nose job and had taken the bandages off too early—Seongwoo was _mortified_ having to explain to her that he’d just gotten hit in the face with a locker door.)

This is a very big problem to have indeed, and it results in Seongwoo camping out in Jaehwan’s disgusting studio, curled up on the bed with a pillow mashed against his face.

Jaehwan sighs. “What do you want, pleb.”

“I want do fuck Daniel,” Seongwoo says sadly. “But in like, a sweet, loving way. The type of fucking that has me on my back bent in half and him staring lovingly into my eyes,” Jaehwan gags, “I want to hit his mouth with my mouth—with additional tongue, of course.”

“Disgusting,” Jaehwan says, like that isn’t a candy bar wrapper balled up in his old sock lying there on the desk.

Seongwoo pouts harder.

“Why are you even here,” Jaehwan intones, and puts another candy wrapper into the cursed sock. “I’m not your therapist.”

“But you’re my friend!”

“Arguable.”

“That was mean and _hurtful_ , Jaehwannie,” Seongwoo sniffs pompously, and then regrets it immediately because Jaehwan’s entire room smells like feet and _ass_.

“Whatever,” Jaehwan pulls a pack of gummies from his pants (what the fuck) and pops a green sour worm into his mouth.

“You have to give me advice!” Seongwoo whines, and Jaehwan just stares at him, wholly unimpressed. “I’m serious, Jaehwannie!”

“Fine,” Jaehwan snorts, and reaches down to scratch his balls before crossing his arms over his chest. Seongwoo very pointedly decides to ignore that.

Instead: “I want to _give_ him things,” Seongwoo says sadly, “like happiness and warm hugs and blow jobs.”

“That’s not gross at all,” Jaehwan mutters.

“Jaehwannie!” Seongwoo squawks. “This is very important to me!”

“Getting Kang Daniel to notice you?” Jaehwan snorts. “Please. The guy’s like an overgrown puppy—you say his names enough time and click your tongue, then he’ll be groveling at your feet. Besides, the guy’s kind of an idiot.”

“Hey!” Says Seongwoo, insulted, and Jaehwan waves him off.

“Oh, shut up you big baby, not _that_ kind of idiot. He’s just kind of… oblivious, that’s all. Besides—didn’t I give you that list a while back?”

“Yeah,” says Seongwoo miserably. “I was looking at it but then I spilled banana milk all over it. I tried to dry it out but it just got kind of crusty and smelled like bad milk.”

“Oh my god,” says Jaehwan, and rolls his eyes to the sky like he’s searching for some sort of guidance from a greater being. “ _You’re_ the idiot.”

The sad thing is: Seongwoo can’t even argue.

~

While Seongwoo is in his own dorm room, miserably contemplating the meaning of life and his cursed existence (also trying to crank out an essay that had been due several days ago), he suddenly hears extremely loud thumping, and then a _shriek_.

A shriek, which is strange, because this is an all boy’s dorm and he’s pretty sure no one can reach that pitch except for maybe Jaehwan, who isn’t even in the building.

And then the thumping begins to grow louder and more frantic, this steady rhythm that kind of makes Seongwoo feel like the ceiling is going to collapse. And then:  
  
“ _Seongwoo hyung!_ ” Furious slamming against his door. “ _Help, please, hyung you’re the only one here and I need help Seongwoo hyung I’m gonna cry_ ,” Seongwoo swings open the door to find Daniel, completely breathless ~~and looking like a snack~~ , cheeks flushed pink and eyes glassy with what seems to be _tears_.

“Holy shit, are you okay?” Seongwoo’s instantly worried—because no matter how much he wants to _hop on that dick_ there’s no way he’s going to overlook the way Daniel looks like he’s about to break down.

“No,” Daniel sniffles. “There is a spider the size of my _fist_ on the wall next to my bed.”

_Record scratch, freeze frame._

“Hang on,” Seongwoo says. “Did you just say that there’s… a spider? And _that’s_ why you look like you’re about to break down crying?” He’s smiling a little now at Daniel, as he leans against his doorframe and folds his arms across his chest.

“Shut up,” Daniel says, furiously flustered and cheeks going even pinker. Seongwoo inwardly squeals. _Adorable_.

Seongwoo’s smiling rather gleefully now. “Were _you_ the one that just screamed like that?”

Daniel doesn’t say anything but his flustered silence is answer enough.

“Damn,” says Seongwoo, rather appraisingly, and eyes Daniel up and down. “Wouldn’t mind hearing that again sometime,” and he bites his lip, “under rather _different_ circumstances, of course.”

Inexplicably, Daniel’s eyes are suddenly drifting behind him, towards the direction of Jaehwan’s collection of dildos.

Seongwoo claps his hands together. “Well! Lead the way, kiddo, your knight in shining armor Ong Seongwoo is here to save the day.”

“Kiddo,” Daniel echoes, and mouths the word a few more times, before he seems to realize that Seongwoo is staring at him expectantly. “R-Right,” he stammers. “I’m uh, just the room directly above and across from yours…” he blinks rapidly, and then leads Seongwoo towards the stairs.

“So, not a big fan of bugs, are you?” Seongwoo begins conversationally. How cute, he thinks.

“I hate them,” Daniel admits. “I would’ve tried to get it with my electric fly-swatter but if that thing’s bug gunk exploded all over the wall and my bed I probably would have cried and then burnt the room down.”

 Seongwoo laughs into his hand. “My older sister hates bugs too,” he tells Daniel, just as they reach the door. “So I think I’m alright with this whole getting rid of bugs thing.”

“That’s a relief,” Daniel sighs, and brightens almost immediately. “Thanks, hyung! You’re the best.”

 _And you’re so cute_ , Seongwoo thinks, but decides that he’s better off not saying it and not sounding like an absolute idiot.

Daniel opens the door.

His room is brightly lit—he’s on the nicer side of the building—and it’s such a boyish room that Seongwoo is instantly endeared to it. It’s vaguely messy, but not disgustingly so, with rumpled sheets and a few shirts strewn over his chair and textbooks scattered across the desk.

It’s a single room too—lucky bitch.

As Seongwoo surveys the room, he’s smiling until his eyes land on…

He doesn’t even know how properly describe whatever the hell sort of _demon_ creature is on the wall by Daniel’s bed. “Holy _shit_!” Seongwoo shrieks, and stumbles backwards towards the exit where Daniel is wisely waiting, far, far away from the disgusting spider. “Size of your _fist_? Jesus fuck man I didn’t know your hands were the same size as your goddamn _head!_ That thing’s fucking legs are _long as fuck_!” Seongwoo grabs onto Daniel. “You don’t need a random college guy to pick that thing up and like, throw it out the window, you need a goddamn _exorcist_ holy fucking SHIT.”

“ _Hyung_ ,” Daniel wails. “What am I supposed to _do_ it’s like 11 p.m. and there’s no way I’m sleeping there with that… that _thing_!”

“It’s okay,” Seongwoo soothes, and his hands are shaking as he puts his hands onto Daniel’s shoulders. “Just stay in my room for the night, I’ll call someone to take care of the… situation. Alright?” He glances back at the spider and has to suppress a full-bodied shudder.

“Okay,” Daniel mumbles, and sniffles a bit. “I’m sorry for bothering you, hyung.”

“Don’t pout,” Seongwoo knocks his hip against Daniel’s. “C’mon, sweetheart, let’s get somewhere far, _far_ away from that thing.”

“Okay,” Daniel says again, rather obediently, and lets himself get dragged away from his contaminated room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this was kinda short but that's bc i split the chapter into two parts!! (i'm not done w the second half but i just wanted to post ahahah im a Shithead) also listen;; this spider thing was based off of a Real Thing except it was over my roommate's bed and we Both Cried and our TA had to come in with a bucket and fling it out the window
> 
> come yell @ me on twitter or cc @ongnielsbub !!! i don't bite!!!

**Author's Note:**

> catch me on twitter or curiouscat @ongnielsbub


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